katâs note: chapter two yay!! this oneâs longer, the first chapter was more of an introduction to this fic than an actual full chapter. wrote this at four in the morning and part of this is based on my own life, forgot to mention previously :) happy june 28th again!!
First night post three hours and forty minutes on the roadâthe traffic wasnât being fair with you earlier that day.
You had your own room, which you usually shared with your cousin because he was always there with you, but this time the room had an empty bed. Ellieâs mother wanted to share one of the guest rooms with your mother, they loved doing that, always felt like teenagers all over again every time, by staying up late talking, or watching movies they used to watch together back when neither of you were even born, or to share snacks they didnât want their daughters to have. Her mother insisted on the both of you to also share a room, your mother believed you wouldnât be indoors all day if Ellie was also there in the same bedroom.
The house had a large backyard. A pool, and also a lake, protected by a small fence. Lounge chairs placed exactly where you loved to catch a tan on sunny warm days. The main part of the house was on the first floor, second floor had only guest rooms.
Ellie had an irritated pout and a stressed frown ever since her mother told her to be your roommate for those weeks. It was getting on your nerves. You both hated each other, yes, no news, but fuck, couldnât she even try to appear less of a bitch in a place that was supposed to be fun and a break from the ordinary days?
You didnât bother looking in her direction. You showered, dressed into your pajamas, and went to bed, charging what you had to charge and turning the lights off. Ellie was still dressed the way she left her house earlier, huffing every five minutes. You donât see it when she does the same as you and goes to bed as you were already drifting off. She turns off the little lamp that was placed on the shared nightstand between both beds. The room was a suite, which meant, a shared bathroom. Great, just what you needed.
8:30am. You were up, hair up in a ponytail, bikini on, applying sunscreen in the mirror in the bathroom. You didnât bother closing the door since Ellie was still asleep.
You were distracted by your thoughts, humming a song lost in your own head, when Ellieâs voice cuts through your moment harshly, nearly making you flinch by the suddenness of which she woke up and already decided to run her mouth.
â Can you at least shut the door if youâre going to stand there practically naked?
Your neutral expression turns into one of pure stress, biting your tongue so you donât bite back. You werenât even with only a bikini on, you were wearing shorts, ripped denim ones that were two sizes smaller than your usual size, which made it a little tight and short. It was a hot day, at home, in California, wearing that was not that big of a deal.
â Just donât look at me if it bothers you this much â you reply, not in the mood for her starting anything.
â Itâs hard not to â she retorts lower than your previous words.
Her words make you pause, and slowly look at her.
â Whatâs that supposed to mean? â you fully turn to her, hands stilled.
â Shut the fucking door, dude.
You roll your eyes, grabbing your makeup bag which you kept a small travel sized sunscreen, you were done in there anyway. You usually opened the windows and let the sun in, your grandmother would always do that, so it wouldnât be dark in the room all day. But Ellie was still in bed, and instead of pissing her off, you just decided to tan and have a moment of peace, to start off the day in a nice mood, not letting her ruin it.
You were under the sun for two hours straight now, occasionally alternating with tanning your back, and when you reached forward for your water bottle, Ellie barges in on your time of peace once again.
â The sunâs too hot. Youâre going to melt and get a hell of a sunburn â she says, squinting down at you, still dressed in the same clothes she slept in.
Why was she only interacting with you to try to get you mad? She would barely dare to stand less than five feet apart from you all of the time, what the fuck was up with her now?
â Just get the fuck out of here, then â you mutter gruffly, enough for her to hear it.
â Itâs too hot â she insists. Why couldnât she just fuck off?
â Youâre blocking the sun, dumbass, Iâm not sure if you realized that. So, helping with your slow reasoning, that might be the reason why youâre moaning and bitching in my ear about it being too hot instead of simply leaving like I told you to â you retort back, not in the mood for any bullshit.
â The sunâs tanning more of my back than it tanned you so far â she says, shifting her standing position to a very awkward one, as if standing there to piss you off hit her more of a necessity than a genuine want.
â Oh, my god, Ellie, just fuck off and leave me alone.
She shrugs, her cheeks pink from the warmth of outside when she turns to go back inside. Her mother enthusiastically goes up to her, tells her to change because weâd be going to the beach. Here we go.
She nods, but huffs when her mother turns around when your mother touches her shoulder to explain something about the flower garden your grandmother had.
Twenty minutes later, you decide to come back inside for some breakfast since your mother would be hurrying you up soon to leave for the beach.
Ellie was also in a bikini, not the string type. You had to piss her off about it.
â Now if you burn wearing that, itâs gonna look so ugly when you get home â you smirk to yourself, having to turn your face away from her as the smirk turned into a grin just by imagining Ellie having to deal with a huge sunburn every time sheâd undress.
â Follow your own advice and fuck off, yeah? â she says back, looking into your eyes for only a fraction of a second.
You were about to respond, when both yours and Ellieâs mother walked up to you, asking if you were ready to go, you both nod and walk out of the house. The beach was nearby, no need to drive there.
The walk was silent, and if both your mothers werenât happily married and very straight, youâd feel like you were third wheeling, because they would let you and Ellie walk together so they could walk together.
At some point you decided to pick up your pace and walk far away from her, getting to the beach faster than even your mother and hers. You all settle on the sand, grabbing some beach chairs, but you sat under the sun for only fifteen minutes before you decided to go in the water.
Only enough time to wet your hair, feel the coldness of the sea in a warm sunny day and go back to where the girls were. Walking back from the quick dive-in towards your chair, Ellieâs eyes didnât falter once. She was shamelessly staring, but not a single hint of a smile or a sign that she was having fun was being shown.
You sit unfortunately beside her, ignoring her presence, feeling her eyes burning more than the sun itself through your skin. Ellie decides also to go for a quick dive, coming back in less than three minutes with her hair dripping and pushed back, cheeks pink from the heat, body obviously drenched. Your turn to stare. You made it less obvious, though. You didnât think of yourself as big as a dumbass as you thought of her.
Tanning for an hour and a half, the sun was still very up and warm. The mothers simply decided they wanted to get back home, so they did after letting the both of you know. The universe must hate you a lot, mustnât it? Fitting everything perfectly just so youâd have to deal with Ellie all alone.
Your body was cold from the water temperature and it felt good under the heat of the sun, which caused you to accidentally take a nap. Another hour passed and you didnât even notice you had fallen asleep. You woke up after you tried to shift your position but you couldnât because you were in a chair on the beach, not in your bed at home. Sighing softly, you open your eyes. It takes a few seconds for your brain to remember where you were. Good nap.
â I thought you passed out from the heat.
A voice cuts your delicious silence post a peaceful nap. Ellie, of course, always had to be her.
â Oh, you wish I had, huh? â you mutter back â Bet you would have left me here.
â Iâm not an asshole. â she mutters back.
You raise your eyebrow at her, clearly thinking the opposite.
â I hate you, but Iâm a decent human being. Leaving someone unconscious on the beach all alone is just fucked up â she says, then adds, â Especially you, who acts like you lack a brain. You could never take care of yourself like that.
She was lying, to piss you off. You were very independent, Ellie knew you never asked for help and rarely accepted it either. A part of her has always been oddly pleased by that; sheâd seen men offering you help with the smallest things and you refusing because, god forbid you ever depend on someone else on such thing. Especially a man.
â Okay, well, youâre less of a bitch now, Iâd say 0,1%? Youâre still an asshole, though. I donât care what you think of yourself.
You shrug, getting up and folding the chair, grabbing your stuff. You figured you didnât have to let Ellie know you were leaving, since you were obviously packing up to walk back home. She found the lack of communication a trigger for an argument, typical of her. She waits until youâre no longer walking on the sand, to catch up with you in large steps, pouting, pissed like a damn child.
â How respectful of you to just leave and donât say shit â she says, squeezing the water from her auburn locks.
â Do you need verbal confirmation? Canât you read rooms? â you bite back. Why not, right?
â Youâre the bitch here â she repeats your previous words.
â Second time youâre using my words against me. Are you out of arguments? Unlike you, I donât need confirmation that you donât like me. I can sense it from afar. You make it pretty obvious.
She just huffs, so quietly. The rest of the walk is silent. Thank goodness she shushed.
At home, you both had showered and dressed into comfortable clothes, everyone was in the living room. This time any interaction would have a crowd, both your mothers.
Ellie was preparing toast with something that looked like avocados sliced up in a certain way that it made it intentionally look like a dinosaur. Nerd.
She gently poured a tiny amount of a white dressing, which you hoped for it not to be mayonnaise, because who the fuck eats avocado toast with mayonnaise? And with a small spoon she drew the white sauce over the shaped avocado so it would look like sharp dino teeth. Itâs only not cute because sheâs the one doing it.
You grabbed yourself a glass and the passion fruit juice jar, placing it on the table. The weight of the heavy full jar made the table shake just the slightest, and it just barely messed up the eye of the dinosaur Ellie was carefully preparing.
â Now, what the fuck was that for? â Ellie bursts, which earns a look from her mother that said âwatch your languageâ.
â You think I did that on purpose? Where else am I supposed to put this? Youâre taking an eternity to prepare that shit. Do it somewhere else if you donât want disturbance â you burst back, obviously.
â It messed up the eye, and itâs all your fault â she frowns in a stressed expression at you. She sounded like a child, god.
â Oh, fuck me. Stop whining â you huff, rolling your eyes â Itâs not completely ruined.
She never wipes off that frown from her face. She watches as you walk closer, taking the spoon from her fingers, the contact nearly jolts you. She dramatically thinks her beautiful avocado toast dinosaur art is ruined, so she lets you ruin it further.
â Like this â you whisper, concentrated on trying to fix up the mess, connecting an eye to the other, with a thin strand of sauce in between them â Now itâs wearing glasses. See, itâs not ruined. And youâre gonna eat it anyway, so I donât see how it is a big deal.
She softens just a little at that, realizing it actually looked nice. Sheâd never admit it, though. A dinosaur wearing glasses. Sheâd make her avocado toast like this from now on every time, but be careful enough so you donât see that she thinks of it as a nice new idea.
â Is it a he or a she? Or is it a they? â you ask, feeling like you were talking to a child.
â Itâs a he. Always have been â she responds lowly, caught off guard that youâd take minimal interest to ask her something like this.
â Mm. Does your myopic dino have a name? â you ask, keeping everything in place after returning the juice jar to the fridge.
â This one doesnât, â she says, then adds, â yet.
You nod. Okay, okay. She accepted the dinosaurâs myopia, she was indeed less of a bitch today. That was good⊠Right?
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